With the Ladner United Church building undergoing a major renovation and restoration, the church is also taking the opportunity to assess whether to continue with its extreme weather shelter.
For the past three years, the church has, from November to March, served as a shelter for the homeless on nights when the province issues an extreme weather advisory. Initially, the church was receiving funding for the shelter from B.C. Housing, however last fall that funding was cut due to low occupancy numbers.
At the time, the church decided to honour its commitment to maintain the shelter for at least three years and appealed to the community for donations.
Ladner United decided to take on providing the extreme weather shelter after the need was first brought forward by Delta police back in 2010.
Church member Debbie Mitchell heard about the idea at a Community Fund of Faith meeting. She thought Ladner United might be able to help and approached Rev. Jim Short. The idea was taken to the congregation and the decision was made to use the church nursery as a shelter.
At the time, Short said, the church was told by another shelter that was acting as a mentor that it would need to continue the service for at least three years to be able to determine if it was needed in the community long term.
Last year marked the third year of the shelter, and with the church building closed while renovations are completed, Short said the decision was made not to operate this year but to assess whether there is a need.
"We're asking people to let us know whether they believe this is a need," he said.
In the meantime, people seeking shelter will not be left out in the cold.
"We don't want to see anybody on the streets in extreme cold," Short said.
"None of the churches do."
He said that, as was done in the past, if Ladner United is made aware of someone in need of temporary shelter, the church will help find them a place to stay.
In taking on the renovation and restoration of the church building, Short said the decision was made to include a multi-purpose room that could serve as a place for people to stay on a short-term basis, whether it's through the extreme weather shelter or residents displaced after a fire or another emergency.
The room will include an area for beds, a separate shower and bathroom, as well as a small kitchen. Short said the church decided to take on the additional costs in order to provide a service to the community.
He said the church received an outpouring of support from the community when it established the extreme weather shelter, from Ichiban Fine Cleaning, which cleaned all the linens for "almost free," to members of the community who came forward with donations when government funding was pulled.
Short said the church has kept those donations in a separate account, which will only be used to help people in need of shelter.
